Alaska trip taking shape....

Roughed out the route. Now have to do more research as what to avoid and what to make sure to see.

Starting in Calgary red route north the the arctic ocean then blue route south to Vancouver. Two ferry rides....Homer to Valdez and Haines to Skagway. This route minimizes backtracking....

That’s going to be amazing.

Looks like a great time Jes

That should be awesome.

How long is that cruise from Homer to Valdez?

Extra batteries and memory card for the camera

I have to look that up still.

Extra cards and extra battery!

Sweet! A place I want to visit Hope yal have a great trip

I wanted to say to be sure to take plenty of disposable camera's, but someone already be me to the camera comment.

You will have been everywhere,

That'll be a great trip. Can't tell you anything about the Canada part, but pretty much driven most of the main hwys in AK:

Been a while since there, but the Dalton Hwy all the way to Prudhoe is a looooong 400-something miles. Once you get over the Brooks range, pretty much nothing but tundra. Weather depending (snowmelt, rain, etc.) it can get washed out in places where you get stuck for a while. Point being, not sure I'd go much further north than Galbraith Lake unless time was simply not a concern - that said, we're only talking about saving about 300 miles.

8 between Cantwell and Paxson is beautiful. Talkeetna is a must...clear day (pray for it...and I assume your trip is a summer one) you can get a wonderful view of Denali and Foraker from the river. Go to the Salty Dog in Homer. Frost heaves on the Tok Hwy will get your attention (I pretty much launched a diesel pusher and bent the crap out of towbar once, by not paying better attention to that road). Hatcher pass, roughly Willow to Palmer, is a pretty cool day trip.

Go fishing. Take a glacier day cruise/sled dog ride/the cheesy bus ride into Denali/bush plane ride.

I could go on forever........

Prepare to have your best laid plans change. Too much to see and do. Bigger than most can imagine. Convenience stores.............aren't.

When you heading out?

Don't bring a handgun if crossing into Canada. Don't even try to hide it.

This probably doesn't apply to you but make sure none of the travelers has ever had a DWI or felony conviction. You won't be allowed into Canada without following a special procedure well in advance.

Absolutely....only bad thing about the trip....no pistola....

Not sure yet....some time between may and aug....planning on 26 days....4 will be burned up getting to Calgary and back from Vancouver...(2 days each way)

Never been to Alaska but we did take a road trip through Oregon, up through Washington State crossed into Canada from Port Angeles into Victoria city what a beautiful city, took the ferry out of Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay then went to Whistler Ski Resort.
Absolutely beautiful country.

Y'all will have a blast

That will be an awesome trip.

Very much appreciated TOM-M...I’ll take all the advice and suggestions I can get.....

Outstanding adventure shaping up there. Man is that a lot of driving.

Now that’s an adventure.

Yall are freaking road warriors!

Be sure to catch Bucharest Gardens while you are in the area.

Worst part for me is getting out of Texas.

I've driven it a couple of times and lived in Fairbanks for a few years. Be sure to buy the current edition of the Milepost. Invaluable information.

Be sure to fish in Valdez, one of my favorite towns. A place called Fish Central can handle booking all of the local boats as well as vacuum sealing, flash freezing and shipping your catch.

Also in Valdez, do the Stan Stevens glacier tour. You will see amazing scenery and wildlife.

The bus into Denali National Park is super touristy, but worth doing. It's the only way to see 99% of the park and depending on the length of your ride, you have a very good chance of seeing moose, caribou, bear and wolves. Take as long of a ride as you have time for. The longest one, which goes nearly to the base of Denali, is an all day affair.

Be aware that you can't actually drive to the Arctic ocean. The Dalton highway is closed to private vehicles a few miles from the end of the line. The drive up through Atigun pass is super cool, but unless you just want to go as far as you can, I'm not sure it's worth it to drive the whole way up.

Sounds like an amazing trip!

I work for an oilfield service company that has a location in Prudhoe Bay...I’m going to see if the can make it to the coastline thru them. If not, I know they do tours out of Deadhorse. Being that far north I’d like to dip my toes into the Arctic Ocean...Jes because....

I ordered the 2020 Milepost mid January....it should be in sometime mid April.

I already have these....

You sound like a man with a plan, good luck!

Kodiak Island? Worth the trip? The 2020 ferry schedule isn't out yet but so far from what I've found there isn't a direct run from Homer to Valdez. The primary purpose for going that route was to see the Kenai Fjords and coastline by going around the Kenia peninsula....

Plan B would be to go to Kodiak then Valdez via Chenega Bay, Whittier, then to Valdez.....
Homer to Kodiak - 9 hrs
Kodiak to Chegena Bay - 14 hrs
Chegena Bay to Whittier - 4.5 hrs
Whittier to Valdez - 5 hrs
...or roughly 30 hours not counting waiting time between ferries...

Or plan C...drive from Homer to Whittier and take the ferry across to Valdez (the last leg of plan B - 5 hrs). This would mean missing the Kenai coastline.....

Thoughts appreciated...

I think I would drive from Homer to Seward, take a ranger lead all day boat tour of Kenai Fjords and the surrounding area, then drive to Whittier to catch the ferry.

Those ferries aren't bad, and the scenery is amazing regardless, but I think you would get more out of having a better experience seeing less area.

Planing a Alaska trip this summer, Mr snake wrangler can you tell me where you got the Alaska State map and the Alaska eyewitness travel guide

I got the state map from a Barned N Noble book store. The two eyewitness books and the 2020 Milepost I ordered from Amazon. I saw both eyewitness books and the 2019 Milepost in the book store but they were cheaper on line and since I was ordering the current edition of the Milepost I just ordered them all together.

I will look into that. Sounds better than a detour to Kodiak since I really wasn't planning on going there originally.

Great help, thanks Mr wrangler.

Absolutely go fishing! I went almost 20 years ago and had a fabulous time with my grandfather who passed a few years ago. We fished the Kenai River for Kings, did a flyout to Big River Lakes out of Soldotna for Silvers, and a day trip into the Cook Inlet for halibut out of Homer. Had to shoot a couple of those suckers before we brought them on board, and we were totally surrounded by humpback whales all day.

Here's a video I took of the whales on an old 8mm. My skilz aren't great, but got some good footage anyway. Enjoy your trip!

Great video! I am so looking forward to this trip.

It sounds like everything is coming together nicely. I've just started planning my trip, I'm doing Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier and just added Teddy Roosevelt National Parks. From my home in MN the longest leg is two days to Grand Tetons, from there it's a short Jump to Yellowstone, then one day drives to each stop and the last leg home.

Make sure you double check the ferrys Alaska marine highway is screwing w service

We did that area in 2017....stunning is an understatement....

I can't plan routes right now because they are still working of the summer schedule. I'm hoping they get it ironed out soon.

Appears it won't happen this year....

Booooooo.

Keep them coming.

Bummer. I’m shelving our trip to New England also.

I'm sure there is a place or two in Texas y'all haven't seen yet.

Bummer! Well you will have more time to plan for it now.

Actually I was just talking to the wife about loading the grandchitlins up later this summer to do Big Bend, Marfa, Ft. Davis, Balmorhea, Guadalupe Peak, and the Monahans sand dunes.....

I guess...I was hoping that by late summer things would be opened back up. Alaska has a 14 day mandatory quarantine that is expected to go throughout the summer. That doesn't even address crossing the international border with Canada six times during the trip....

Very disappointed....I was looking forward to the trip, especially if there would be a lot less people running around....

Still holding out a little hope for a late summer/early fall time window but just don't see things opening back up in time to make it this year....

Man I would love to see the Barnes n noble crowd eye F snake wrangler as he roles in with his overalls on sipping on a craft latte while reading maps in the social couch

Well that really stinks however, the trip with the little crum snatchers sounds great!

Monahans has sand dunes?

That would be something to see for sure. Throw Spitfire into the mix giving people the stink eye and sayin' "What you looking at?"

I don’t do craft lattes....just plain ol black coffee....

And I did get a few interesting looks....but Shreveport isn’t N Dallas......

Just got the word that our June Alaska Cruise is canceled. They added a lot of inducements that made us re schedule for next year.

He's big on envy and adoration.

We had one scheduled for Sept. Its been canceled also.

We were supposed to go in to weeks........ this stinks.

Not hardly.....

If you haven't done this before it is a great idea.

https://www.themilepost.com/highways/alaska-highway/

We did it about 10 years ago with our three teenaged sons....

Now thinking about a repeat with the grandkids...

Well articulated.

Well articulated.[/quote]


BINGO